We Heart Music

Meat Puppets

Saturday, 30 July 2011

I've a couple of Crickets/Buddy Holly and Bobby Vee albums that I ended up listening to all day today. They sure don't write them like they used to.

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THAT'LL BE THE RAVE
Since it would be Buddy Holly's 75th birthday, if he were still alive, so there's actually a few tribute album to the thick-rimmed glass-wearing rock pioneer.

Listen to Me: Buddy Holly is one of the albums, coming out September 6th, 2011, via Verve/Forecast in the US (and eOne Music in Canada). The album is produced by Peter Asher (with Songmasters), and it features a collection of tribute/cover songs, all originally written by the late Buddy Holly. Some of the artists involved, includes Ringo Starr (Beatles), Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac), Natalie Merchant (10,000 Maniacs), Jackson Browne, Cobra Starship, Brian Wilson (Beach Boys), Chris Isaak, Pat Monahan (Train), Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy), Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchestra), and Zooey Deschanel (She & Him).

In case you were wondering what Songmasters' name attached to this project, they are supporting emerging talents to carry on Buddy Holly's legacy. Since 2009, Songmasters has given out The Holly Prize, an annual award presented by the Songwriters Hall of Fame to recognize and support aspiring young musician/singer/songwriter whose work exhibits the qualities of Holly's music.

While the above tribute is more centered around established and older musicians, it would seem that Rave On Buddy Holly speaks more on the modern music listeners with such artists like Paul McCartney, My Morning Jacket, Cee Lo Green, Justin Townes Earle, The Black Keys, Florence + The Machine, She & Him (Zooey is double-dipping!), Modest Mouse, Julian Casablancas (Strokes), Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Fiona Apple and John Brion, Graham Nash, The Detroit Cobras, Kid Rock, John Doe, Karen Elson, Nick Lowe and Jenny O.

The album actually came out last month (June 28, 2011), via Fantasy Records/Concord Music Group. I don't have a copy, but I'm curious what Fiona Apple & Jon Brion's version of "Every Day" (one of my favorite Holly song) would sound like. I can only imagine Apple to ooze of sex and weirdness.

NEVERFIND
I'm not sure if you can still get this, but Spin Magazine is giving away Newermind, a collection of covers by Meat Puppets, The Vaselines, Butch Walker & The Black Widows, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Midnight Juggernauts, Titus Andronicus, Amanda Palmer, Surfer Blood, Foxy Shazam, Ema, Telekinesis, Jeff the Brotherhood, Charles Bradley & the Menahan Street Band. I was told that the album is free until July 25th, but as of this writing, it's still available at facebook.com.

Since I have a lot of music to shift through, the only song I listened to from this tribute is the Meat Puppets song, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". I've heard a lot of "Teen Spirit" covers, this isn't one of my favorite - but there are very few bands that can do Nirvana justice.

GERMFREE IDENTITY
It was at the
Hunx and His Punx show (05/01/11)
when I first heard that Poly Styrene had passed away. It was a random conversation with a fellow X-Ray Spex fan. She's gone, but she's definitely not forgotten.

The latest news is that Michael Jackson impersonators paid tribute to the late Poly Styrene for the video "Ghoulish". Having just watched the video, it's about a Michael Jackson audition, and it turned into a massive Thriller-dance throw down at the end. Really fun video.

I think the real irony is that the song "Ghoulish" was inspired by Michael Jackson himself. Her lyrics about seeing through Jackson's mask of "crimson lips and charcoal eyes" to see that he is "quite a nice guy", even though she's never met him.

YOU KNOW I'M NO GOOD
I know, I know, she's not gone for a week and already I got a note about a mini-mix tribute by Diwon.

Off topic, but I've also noticed all these compilations called Amy Winehouse Tribute/Collection appearing on iTunes and Zune marketplace. I know they have to strike while the iron is hot, but doesn't it seem weirdly greedy? In fact, Microsoft apologized for tweeting "Remember Amy Winehouse by downloading the ground-breaking 'Back to Black' over at Zune."
Microsoft didn't need to do that, by all accounts, her death brought her album album "Back To Black" back on the charts.

Anyway, the free Amy Winehouse mix by Diwon can be download at shemspeed.com, where they have this to say:

We were all really sad to hear that Amy Winehouse, the English singer-songwriter known for her powerful contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz passed away two days ago and we wanted to pay tribute with a mini-mix that really shows how incredible of an artist she was. Feel free to share and re-post wherever you would like.

Monday, 23 May 2011

I am sick. I don't know how it happened, but it's not fun coughing and wheezing. I did manage to do two podcast recording, with Sally and Cristina, which will likely be edited for this week and next week's show.

I also picked up The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, at Walmart, which came with a lot of bonus items like a DVD and Soundtrack (all at the normal cost of a game product). They are on the right track, I definitely feel like you get more value out of it, when this is the 'standard' version of the game. There is a collector's version, which is way too expensive for my blood ($129).

Unfortunately, the game is plagued with problems. Activation was a nightmare (finally got it to work eventually), downloading bonus content wasn't working (it kept saying the code was bad, when in fact, it was the correct code - eventually this worked out), and the game does not work on my Nvidia 7800 SLI. I understand that this card is old, but I can run modern games on it just fine at 1280x720 (which I'm OK with). But seriously, they need to fix some of these bugs... but I don't think they will because their minimal support is Nvidia 8800 card, just a generation above mine. So, right now, it's not recommended if you have an older card.

Since I can't really play it until they patch it, or if Nvidia update their drivers, I might actually go back to the first Witcher game, which I never finished.

The bonus soundtrack is composed by Adam Skorupa & Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz, and it's what you expect for a gaming soundtrack. The DVD is in Polish, so be prepared to read a lot of subtitles.

I got the latest Spin Magazine in the mail today and it's pretty sweet that they are offering not one, but two, free albums this month. Like I've previously mentioned, it's free for all US residents. You can grab them at spin.com/itunes (expires June 30th) and spin.com/itunes-lolla (expires Aug 31st), what a good deal! Especially for Sleater-Kinney and Isobell Campbell.

While you're enjoying the free music, you can consider subscribing the magazine. For one year, it's $9.95. I do recommend the print version, you get more content for the buck, and I've always been a fan of glossy magazines vs digital ones.

Not to say that the iPad digital version doesn't have a lot going for it, but it just seems like the iPad version is more or less about pictures and very, very few words. The only advantage you have on the digital Spin Magazine is that you can stream the month's soundtrack, and "breaking" news is constantly flowing. I actually turned off auto-renewal for the Spin digital magazine, but I am definitely keeping my print subscription.

That's not all, for late April and this month (May), you can purchase a 2-disc special Spin Magazine "Must-Hear Music" edition, available only at Target stores. For the price of the magazine $4.99, you get two 16-track bonus CDs, featuring Mumford & Sons (they are on the current cover), and The Strokes (they were on last month's cover).

Update: Here is a picture of the Spin Target Edition next to my iPad with the Spin digital issue. As you can the see the Target Edition is a smaller print, you can find the issue at the music/CD area, not magazine area.

Lastly, The Hype Machine (hypem.com) is a very popular blog music indexer. We were lucky enough to have been featured on their iPhone Application. As a result, we're getting a ton of mobile traffic, and suddenly the song we posted by Scattered Trees climbed up the Hype Machine's Twitter Chart. I think by the time you read this, it would've dropped off the charts, but here's a screen capture (see picture).

Gorgeous Playing ExperienceEnjoy artwork and the ability to read each blog post behind the music directly within the app. Includes every blog in our Music Blog Directory as its own radio station. Don't know where to start? Browse music by genres like acoustic, british, dance, electro, experimental, indie pop, psychedelic, shoegaze and more.

Slightly Stoopid, with Meat Puppets and Honeyboy Carencro, came by Minneapolis to play First Avenue yesterday, May 6th.

HONEYBOY CARENCRO

SLIGHTLY STOOPID

Honeyboy Carencro spent the whole of his set sitting on a chair with his acoustic guitar, he played bluesy southern rock. He seemed out of place last night, I thought he'd be a much better match with Fats Domino at the House of Blues. As I recall from his banter on stage, that his secret origin is that he's from Minnesota, but moved to New Orleans when he was a boy.

As for Slightly Stoopid, say what you will about them, but they sure command legions of fans. Their fans seems proud to be 'stoopid' and they're all about smoking herbs, crowd surfing, and having a good time. This shouldn't be a surprise, considering that Slightly Stoopid's image is associated with these things. I mean, take a look at their last two studio albums, entitled Slightly Not Stoned Enough To Eat Breakfast Yet Stoopid and Chronchitis.

Stoopid's music, at least what I did hear live, is less about lyrics and more about jamming extended guitar and acoustics to epic porportion. The fans seemed to enjoyed dancing to it.

I was primarily there for Meat Puppets. You all know the story, this band born out of the 80s, gained fame in the 90s, and currently, the trio is still rocking out in the modern age. And sure, time gave them wrinkles and white hair, but as their song goes, "they may seem rearranged/in the backwater swirling/there is something that will never change".

Meat Puppets started off their set with an all instrumental song, "Seal Whales", it was quickly followed by "Up On the Sun". But it wouldn't until they started playing the last four songs that did it for me:
Starting off with "Hey Baby Que Paso", and then "Backwater", their massive hit from Too High to Die. It's then followed by what sounds like a cover (contains the lyrics, "I just want to go home"), followed by an explosive version of "Lake Of Fire". A song so good that even Nirvanna covered it from their MTV Unplugged album. In that block of four songs, it was worth it for me.

Meat Puppets are on tour in support of their 13th studio album, Lollipop, out now.

Thursday, 05 May 2011

Here's your guide on what's happening in Minneapolis in the next two days.

FRIDAY Ada JaneLara is covering Ada Jane at the 400 Bar. You can read more about Ada Jane here. Excerpt:

Matt Marka is one of those semi-elusive musicians—the kind whose name strikes a familiar chord even if you’re not quite sure why…you…know…him. Ninety percent of the Minneapolis music scene is covered in this amnesiac fog.

Meat Puppets
I am heading over to First Avenue to cover Meat Puppets. I don't think they need an introduction, these guys have been around since the 80s, but I first only heard of them during the Grunge-thing with their 1994 album, Too High to Die. Although the band broke up in 1996, they are now back together. As you recall, I wrote that they were together in 2009, when they had just released Sewn Together.

Their 13th album, out last month on Megaforce Records, is called Lollipop. They will appear at First Avenue tomorrow, I'll be there to cover them. Full tour dates listed below.

Jonathan RichmanHe is playing over at Triple Rock. We covered him last year, but unfortunately, I do not have anyone covering this event. I also don't have much details about his new tour dates, he doesn't really have a web pressence! I know he's old school, but, really, would it hurt to have a website ? What I have below:

SATURDAY Free Comic Book DayThe first Saturday of May is Free Comic Book Day! I try and make it to my local comic book store every year, but to be honest, I go to the comic store every other week. This year, you can pick up a Green Lantern Heroclix, which looks very cool. More details at freecomicbookday.com. I'll be looking out for The Tick free comic (I love Ben Edlund).

LynhurstI'm sending a few people over to the Dakota Jazz Club at 11pm to see Lynhurst for $5. I might head over there after I'm done seeing Arrington De Dionyso. You can read our previous articles on Lynhurst here.

No matter how young they look, these musicians are already seasoned professionals. Matt and Jake were regularly performing gigs before reaching their teens and Mari, the youngest, wasn’t too long to follow. What amazed me watching them play at such a young age is how comfortable and confident they looked on stage. Their debut album is no different.

Arrington De DionysoIf you keep up, I find this guy's music so interesting because it's all sung in Indonesian, and he's really into paintings and stuff. I'm hoping to see him at the Turf Club on Saturday - and I'm also hoping to pick up a few 7" or artwork (I guess I'll see what's for sale when he comes here, also depending on my small budget to see what I can afford...).

Technically, this band's been around since the late 80s, but they weren't well-known until they signed to Elektra Records in the mid-90s with the re-release of Deluxe (the album with their hit song "Good").

I guess the weird thing is that they've never revealed where the name comes from:

We have never revealed it, even under duress.

- singer Kevin Griffin

I'm sure it's probably best if we didn't know the origin of the name. What's the fun in knowing anyway?

Their latest album is called Paper Empire, released just recently in May on Ezra Dry Goods.

You may remember Third Eye Blind in the late 90s with their self-titled album blowing up with such hits as "How's It Going to Be" and "Semi-Charmed Life" (which was honored by Weird Al in one of his Polka songs). Well, they are back with Ursa Major on the Sony/Red record label* (see note below) (I can't be sure, but I thought I read it was coming out in August). What is interesting is that they're basically harnessing the power of their fans and the internet to help drive interests.

I know a lot of bands do this, but through contests, they're able to get people to basically remix songs for them (via indabamusic.com) or, just very recently, they needed a support act for their June 16th show at the Roseland Ballroom. The show is almost sold out and it would be a nice break for any band - they ask that you email your myspace page to openfor3eb[a]gmail.com. NOTE: deadline for bands is 10am EST on Sunday, June 14th.

Since they had recorded so much music, whatever doesn't make it on Ursa Major will be collected in another album, tentatively called Ursa Minor. Keep an "eye" on the band at news.weheartmusic.com.

* Update 6/12/09 11:53am: I just received this breaking news: "the upcoming Third Eye Blind album will be released on August 18th via Mega Collider"

Riding the coat tail of Seattle's grunge sound, Alice in Chains found themselves selling a ton of their EP Jars of Flies, followed by their '95 self-titled album (the 3-legged dog on the cover, aka 'Tripod'). All the success and money played out like a typical VH-1 Behind the Music story, when you hear that lead singer Layne Staley died of a drug overdose years later.

William DuVall is the new singer, who joined the band in 2006. They seem to be very excited about their upcoming album, Black Gives Way to Blue, out on September 29th, 2009, on Virgin/EMI records.

Just prior to the album's release, they are planning on playing through Europe (particularly in Germany). Their upcoming gig on July 18th is with Kid Rock at the Comerica Park in Detroit.

Okay, that's deceiving. I just thought Soundgarden/Alice In Chains combo was more attention-grabbing. Well Soundgarden's lead singer Chris Cornell's third album Scream, was just released in March under Interscope Records.

As far as I know, Soundgarden broke up in 1997 and remained so. Along with Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Alice in Chains, Soundgarden destroyed the world with grunge/metal/rock music. They supernova with their major hit song "Black Hole Sun" (which incidentally failed to get mentioned on my the Sun article).

That summer of '95 saw the band doing some major touring that would've permanently damaged Cornell's vocals cords if he had kept going:

I think we kinda overdid it! We were playing five or six nights a week and my voice pretty much took a beating. Towards the end of the American tour I felt like I could still kinda sing, but I wasn't really giving the band a fair shake. You don't buy a ticket to see some guy croak for two hours! That seemed like kind of a rip off.

- Chris Cornell

The band canceled and rescheduled the concert dates at a later time. The band split up shortly after concluding their 1996 Lollapalooza tour with Metallica.

So, recently, you may have actually heard about Cornell with his high profile work with former Rage Against the Machine members in a band called Audioslave as well as hearing his theme song on the James Bond movie "Casino Royale" with "You Know My Name".

Incidentally, I know Dinosaur Jr is still around. I did see that Meat Puppets are around and I just got this late news that they're appearing on NPR/World Cafe today at 3pm. The note I got sums up their successful tour and promotion: "The band is currently in the middle of their sold out tour with another sold out show at the Mercury Lounge tonight. Plus, they have a big feature in the current issue of Rolling Stone."

You may remember this band as closely tied to Nirvana in the early days, as Kurt Cobain was a huge fan of the band. Their most famous album is probably Too High to Die in 1994, the album was produced by "worst band name ever" Butthole Surfers' Paul Leary.

The band broke up and recently reunited in 2006. The new album is called Sewn Together on Megaforce Records and was released on May 12th.

I always thought it was possible that Better Than Ezra's name came from Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler (who wrote The Accidental Tourist, among others). I never thought too much about it, and didn't know they'd never revealed the source, and I read the book in HS way before the band was around and never read it again. BUT...there was a character named Ezra and it always made me think of that. The End.

2015:
Since Select Magazine went away in 2000, Uncut Magazine took over as my favorite music magazine. In their latest issue, which came out in the stores in the UK this week (January 27th), they featured the 30th Anniversary of Meat is Murder with a The Smiths cover.